QuickBooks Pro Online Beginner (2023): Creating Company Files

Name: QuickBooks Pro Online Beginner (2023): Creating Company Files
Author: Takeisha Strong

Learn the basics of setting up a new company file in QBO

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 4 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Tequisha Strong, and these lessons will learn to create company files and QuickBooks Online. You'll learn the nuances of creating a new company in QBO, including the service and product base options. You'll learn to customize your chart of accounts and how to add any bank and or credit card integrations to your file. Let's get started. By this time, you've navigated to Intuit's website and selected the appropriate QBO subscription level that matches your company's needs. You've created an Intuit ID and provided your card information for either your first month's services or for your free trial. We're now ready to begin setting up a new company. For the purposes of this lesson, wherever possible, we will skip through the tutorial so that at the end, we will have all the options available to us to customize the file. Let's press Next to continue. On this screen, we'll call the Business Hour Company. Select Next. As mentioned a moment ago, we'll select Other as the answer to this question. However, you can note how you've been managing the company's finances prior to selecting QBO. It may be nothing, you may be migrating from QuickBooks Desktop or other softwares or using a spreadsheet or pen and paper. How long has the company been in business? You'll have several options. We'll select three to five years. What kind of business is this? Again, for our options, we're going to note not sure so that we can see every option available once the QBO file has started. The different business structures are sole proprietorship, a partnership, non-profit organization, or CRS Corporation. What does your business do? Again, we'll skip this for now so that we can have the full options available later. What's your main role at the company? We'll note that we are the accountant. Is the company your main source of income? This question is primarily geared towards the business owner instead of someone handling the books for the company. This question helps QuickBooks determine if it should set up or ask you any probing questions related to setting up employees, contractors, or other people that will work in the company. Grants can be connected at a later time through the App Center in QBO. We'll walk through how to link bank or credit card integrations in a later lesson. We'll skip receipt tracking. At this point, if you'd like to download the mobile app, you can do so. On this screen, if you know up front the details that you'd like to include in QuickBooks, you can select the appropriate tiles. That includes accepting payments from your customers, sending and tracking invoices to your customers, obtaining a new business bank account, managing and paying bills from your vendor, creating estimates or quotes to provide to your customers, tracking employee and contractor time, managing inventory, tracking your sales, managing sales tax, and tracking mileage. QuickBooks offers invoicing as a way to get started. We'll skip setting up a separate merchant account to get paid with invoices. Again, if you'd like to download the mobile app, you can do so at this time. Now that we've gone through the full tutorial, you can select to take a quick tour, or you can begin to set up the details of your company's file. The first view QBO gives you is that of an accountants view. Let's switch to the business view by selecting the gear icon at the top right and switch to business view. You can choose to complete the setup checklist to customize your company, or you can use the quick action buttons at the bottom, or we can go directly to the accounts and settings options in the gear icon menu at the top. Let's select accounting, account and settings. After selecting account and settings from the main gear icon menu, let's go to the advanced tab. Under accounting, we can now begin to customize our file. We'll note the first month of the fiscal year, the first month of our income tax year in case it's different, we'll note if we use the cash or accrual method of accounting, and if we like to close the books, meaning toggle on a closing date. If so, you would enter the closing date, and note if changes are allowed with a warning or with a warning and password. Next we can choose the tax form. This goes along with the business structure question that we skipped earlier. We noted if we're using a form 1040 for a sole proprietor or single member LLC, the 1065, if you're a partnership, or an LLC with more than one member or owner, an S corporation, a C corporation, or a non-profit. If you note limited liability, you still have to choose the appropriate tax form. If you're unsure, work with your tax advisor to note the appropriate form or just select not sure. For our purposes, let's select 1120S. For details related to the chart of accounts, you can choose to enable the account numbers, and if your company collects tips, you can note where you would like that information saved. Let's toggle on the account numbers and show the account numbers in our chart of accounts. You can also track your activity by classes and or by locations. Under automation, you can pre-fill any of your forms with previously entered content. For example, if you have an invoice to the same customer and you want to create another invoice, QuickBooks will automatically pre-fill your invoice based on that customer's previous invoice. You can choose to automatically apply credits, invoice, and bill of activity, or automatically apply payments to a bill. If you're tracking projects, you can organize all job-related activity in one place, note the company's home currency, allow other QBO members to find you, and note other preferences to customize your file. Select done to save. In the next lesson, we'll walk through some of the differences between service and product-based businesses. Thanks for watching. . . . .

Beginner Provider : Takeisha Strong 4 Lessons · 28m in English

Course Description

Have you ever heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out”? This expression can be said of accounting files that are not set up properly; without proper avenues for input that match the needs of your company, your output won’t be as productive. But with so much to consider, how can a QuickBooks Online (QBO) user set up a file that works best for them and their company? Fortunately, QBO offers tools to create a good starting point for setup. This module provides the understanding needed to use those tools to eliminate the “garbage.”

In Creating Company Files, you will learn the basics of creating an accounting file for your company. Additionally, you will learn some differences between product- and service-based business options and how to customize their Chart of Accounts. Finally, you will learn how to maximize efficiency and minimize errors by using QBO’s bank and credit card integration options.

What You'll Learn

Create a new company file in QuickBooks Online (QBO)
Customize the Chart of Accounts for your company
Distinguish between service-based and product-based business options
Set up bank and credit card integrations to create efficiencies
Maximize efficiency and minimize errors using QBO's bank and credit card integration options

Key Takeaways

Accounting files that are not set up properly produce less productive output, reflecting the "garbage in, garbage out" principle.
QuickBooks Online offers tools to create a good starting point for setting up a company accounting file.
Service-based and product-based business options differ, and the Chart of Accounts can be customized accordingly.
QBO's bank and credit card integration options help maximize efficiency and minimize errors.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn the basics of creating an accounting file for your company, the differences between product- and service-based business options, how to customize the Chart of Accounts, and how to use QBO's bank and credit card integration options to maximize efficiency and minimize errors.

Who is this course for?

It is for QuickBooks Online (QBO) users who want to set up a company file that works best for them and their company.

What topics do the lessons cover?

The lessons cover creating a new company in QBO, service- vs product-based options, customizing the Chart of Accounts, and bank and credit card integrations.

What skills does this course help build?

It builds skills in accounting and business software including QuickBooks, Quicken, Microsoft Office Accounting, and QuickBooks Certification.